John Travolta, who strutted to movie stardom 30 years ago as Tony Manero in “Saturday Night Fever,” has since endured many big screen highs (“Grease,” “Urban Cowboy,” “Pulp Fiction”) and lows (“Battlefield Earth,” “Moment By Moment” “Be Cool”).
But his last two films, “Wild Hogs” and “Hairspray,” have been major box office hits and the one-time Vinnie Barbarino finds himself as much in demand as he’s ever been.
“Isn’t that nice? It’s always good to feel successful - that never wears out,” Travolta said to me at the Hollywood Film Festival Awards this week. “If you are successful, it means that you’ve contributed something to the audience that they like and that they feel inspired by or they feel satisfied by. And that’s really my purpose. I want to inspire, I want to entertain. That’s really the joy of it - seeing the effect it has on the audience.”
Travolta was honored at the film fest for his performance as Edna Turnblau in "Hairspray" and the two-time Oscar nominee felt "proud and like my courage of doing this paid off. It took a long time to decide but it all paid off. As long as something's well-written, I'vce always had the confidence to do something different."
Travolta's wife, actress Kelly Preston, was supportive during the time when her husband was acting like a woman for his art: "I loved Edna. I miss Edna," Kelly said. "I fell in love with her as a girlfriend. She didn't come home but I hung out with her on the set a lot and now I miss her."
But Kelly didn't have to give her husband much advice about playing a woman: "He has a lot of sisters and an amazing mother and amazing archtypes like Sophia Loren and he pulled everything from many years of watching great women. It was a composite."
Travolta says nearly three decades passed before he took on another musical because he couldn't find the right one. He hopes to not wait so long to do another in the genre which has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years with the success of "Hairpsray," "Dreamgirls" and "Chicago."
“People asked why [the 30 year gap], and I would smugly say, 'Because simply women have the best roles in musicals,' ” Travolta said later, as he accepted his award. “I have to thank all the women, because I grew up watching women, admiring women,” he said. “I never thought I would play a woman, so I learned a lot...I found it insightful and interesting.”